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Sudden Death

My friend and I just got our 2 rabbits last night (5/31/12). We settled them into their home with food, water, and straw bedding. I groomed both of them (because they have long hair), I went home and a little while later, she texted me (not 2 hours after we got them).
This is her exact text:

"I was holding my rabbit and all of a sudden it threw up spit and stopped moving. I felt it's pulse and it wasn't breathing. It's eyes are glassy and it's limbs loose. It's dead. I have no idea how it died, too. It hasn't moved in the last hour. It's definitely dead."

The rabbit was about 11 weeks old, and seemed healthy when we got it. It was a Jersey Wooly Rabbit. Does anyone know what happened?

That depends where you are in the world, but if you are somewhere like the UK or Europe, were the rabbits vaccinated against vhd?

Were the rabbits eating and drinking okay?

You really need to get both the dead rabbit and the other to the vet today, for an inspection and a postmortem, as it could be something that will affect the remaining rabbit. You should also let the breeder, rescue or pet shop that you got them from know, as they should want to take precautions quarentining and not selling the rest of their rabbits until the cause of death is identified.

Also, rabbits physically cant throw up, so it would be worth investigating what your friend actually saw with the vet.

I hope your remaining rabbit is okay and it wasnt too much of a shock for your friend.

Last edited by nessar; 01-06-2012 at 09:00 PM.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING PLEASE SEND ME A PM (OR ASK ANY OF THE OTHER FORUM BUDDIES).

It is impossible to say what happened unless a Vet performs a post mortem (necropsy). It sounds as though the Rabbit may have aspirated something, but that is just a total guess

How very sad

A Rabbit Savvy small animal Veterinary Surgery in Twickenham, SW Londonhttps://www.twickenhamvets.com/
A map giving up to date, well researched and reliable details about reported cases of RHD2 within the UK. The map also gives details of locations of Vets reported to have access to the RHD2 Vaccinehttp://rhd2map.buntools.org.uk/

My friend buried the rabbit as soon as it died, before I knew it died. My rabbit is fine.

My friend (Hannah is her name) got 2 cute mini/holland lop mixes as a replacement for her lost rabbit. One is blue, the other is broken black. They are brothers, and so adorable!

I got them from a lady selling rabbits on Craigslist. She isn't any breeder, just wanted to give her extra rabbits a new home. I already told her about it, and she says that that has never happened to any of her rabbits before.